Background: Oral senorimotor development is the basis for several vital functions for the child, hence orofacial dysfunction may be severely disabling. Recently, a comprehensive screening instrument assessing different aspects of orofacial function in adults and children age three and up was developed, the Nordic Orofacial Test-Screening (NOT-S). The aim of the present study was to establish developmental profiles of orofacial function for children 3 to 7:11 years old using NOT-S methods: A total of 231  typically developing children 3:0 to 7:11 years old were included. Data were compiled from previous investigations. Comparisons across ages and gender were made.

Results: The total NOT-S score was below two for 58% (133) of all children in the study.There was a clear trend of lower total NOT-S score with  increased age according to a best linear fit regression, R2= .81, p = .014. The number of children without any score on NOT-S increases dramatically for the seven-year-old children, 44% compared to 20% or lower for the other age groups. Boys had statistically significant higher scores than girls on the total NOT-S score and also for the clinical examination according to a Mann-Whitney U-test, p<.000 for both cases.